Good news, Bizarre Times

Good news, we went to visit the surgeon yesterday and DS2 checked out great!

The surgeon thought the lip looked "pretty good", which I wanted to smack him as the lip looks great! But when we tipped DS2 and got into his mouth, the surgeon was totally surprised, I could see the shock on his face, he thought it was an awesome job. He thinks its American technique, whether it was done by the Chinese or Americans (think Smile train), we'll never know. Upshot is no surgeries until he's a bone graft stage, around 8 years old. There is a chance the the back of the palette may need a touch of work at around age 4, but as the little guy is already saying the "b" sounds, we are hopeful to skip this revision.

Now today I start setting appointments with the Speech Pathologist who will lead us tot he speech therapy and early intervention, the orthodontists, and the ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat) doctor to evaluate hearing and look at the need for ear tubes. But the first biggie is off the list!

On my way back to the office the complexity and bizarre events surrounding my daily life really hit me. I had skipped lunch so I was standing in front of my office building waiting in line to buy a fruit smoothie. For those Non-NYer readers, there are lots of vendors in NY that hang out in the business areas to sell quick foods like, hot dogs, felafels, kabobs, fruit smoothies, fancy coffee, and of course donuts. Well, the guy at the fruit smoothie place is cool, Jimmy, we are friendly.
He says, "hey you are late today."
me, "yeah, I had an appointment out this morning"
him, " so how's the market today,up or down?"
me, " I actually don't know, I'm just coming in"
him, " oh, this means you were out for the boys, are they good?"
me, smile, "yes, just came from the doctor and everything looks good."
him, great, "see you tomorrow".
Jimmy is an immigrant from Vietnam. He knows about both my boys and has met the older guy. He was very excited about DS2 and we talk on occasion about keeping the exposure to Chinese language up. He laments to me that his nieces and nephews understand everything he says to them in Vietnamese, but always respond in English. I tell him to just keep talking to them.

Here's the juxtaposition to this scene. While I'm standing there chatting with a member of my daily life, friends/family circle, I'm 40 yards from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) watching the protesters, tourist, and riot police dance. Earlier this week three protesters in black suits, white ghost like mask, carrying signs saying "greed kills" started walking up and down the street. I kind of like this trio but, in my opinion they got the expression wrong. On the Street we say, "bulls and bears make money but pigs get slaughtered." Nonetheless, same sentiment.

Yesterday another group of about 4-5 protesters have joined the mix. These folks are wearing suits and cowboy hats and carrying signs protesting the bail out. There were two guys running around with full face mask dressed like Obama and McCain, but they weren't getting much attention without having signs! Now in the middle of this are the riot police - only a handful - just watching and waiting, with their dog. OF course tourist everywhere, it is easy to hear 4-5 languages in the groups passing by. The kicker, was yesterday was also the second day of Rosh Hashanah (a Jewish holiday) and their was an older fellow, dressed traditional garb, coming out onto one of the taller steps and blowing on a large sheep horn for the Holiday every once in a while (I don't know the tradition, but he seemed serious about his blowing).

Every once in a while I sit back and think, wow, NY is CRAZY. But I still love this city.